Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Iraqi
Kurds will ânot be able to find foodâ if Ankara decides to halt the flow
of trucks and oil into the region, adding that all military and
economic sanctions are on the table.

â[They] will be left in the lurch when we start imposing our sanctions,â Erdogan said in a speech broadcast live on television on Tuesday, as quoted by Reuters.

âIt will be over when we close the oil taps, all [their] revenues
will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks
stop going to northern Iraq.â

The Turkish president then
warned that Israelâs support would be insufficient to sustain the Iraqi
Kurdsâ drive for independence and would not save them from international
isolation. Erdogan added that Tel Aviv does not exercise sufficient
leverage over the world community.

âWho will
recognize your independence? Israel. The world is not about Israel. You
should know that the waving of Israeli flags there will not save you,â he said, as quoted by Hurriyet.

"If
the only support for the KRGâs referendum is given by Israel and if the
[outlawed Kurdistan Workersâ Party] PKK starts celebrating [the
results] even before the polls close then there can be neither innocence
nor legitimacy,â Erdogan said.

The Israel reference comes
after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for an
independent Kurdistan earlier this month, while taking aim at Ankara's
support of Hamas.

âIsrael opposes the PKK and considers it a
terrorist organization, in contrast to Turkey, which supports the
terrorist group Hamas,â Netanyahu said during a state visit to Argentina. âWhile
Israel is opposed to any kind of terrorism, it supports the legitimate
means of the Kurdish people to obtain their own state.â

The Turkish leader said Iraqi Kurds are incapable of creating their own state. âThey donât have an idea on how to be a state. They think that they are a state just by saying it. This canât and wonât happen,â he said.

He also called the Iraqi Kurdsâ decision to hold an independence referendum âa betrayal to our country [Turkey] in an era where our relations were at their best level in history,â adding that the referendum would be ânull and voidâ regardless of its results.

If the Kurdish Regional Government that does not backtrack on their decision concerning the referendum âas soon as possible,â they will âgo down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war,â Erdogan added.

The
Turkish president warned that all options â from economic sanctions to
military measures â are on the table. Although the Turkish president has
repeatedly warned of sanctions, he has so far provided few details.

A
halt in Ankara's supply of oil to the region would be welcomed by
Baghdad, which has asked foreign countries to stop direct oil trading
with the region.